The Aesthetics of Critical Habitats by Emily Apter

Through this reading, the author, Emily Apter has tried to critique the relationship between media and environment through the work of various contemporary artists who have different agenda, mediums and aesthetic ideologies but share a common will to raise concern towards the rise of critical habitats globally.

Being a digital media artist myself, it was obvious for me to get attracted to the works of John Klima. It was in fact inspiring to see how he connects the virtual space to the real space consistently by building large scale electro-mechanical installations. Through one of his installations named Ecosystem, Klima shows the translation of real-time currency fluctuations into the flight patterns of flock of birds. While many people find the relation of the interface as an arbitrary one, the co-relation is in fact meaningful that shows the impact of long-distance financial transactions on remote ecologies. Klima uses the media environment not only as a site for tracking data on its way to environmental damage, but also as a medium of information transfer that is casually implicated in the damage. Another work called ‘Go Fish’ uses a weird but somewhat effective way for the user to see a visible conversion of data that emphasizes the fact of our natural habitat becoming critically endangered. He does not believe in celebrating the art, rather uses the visual form to extend the reach of environmental activism to common people. 

Apter also talks about the work of the artist named Andreas Gursky who is known to make neuromatic blowups with the use of nature to counterfoil the virtual environment. Through his works like The Tokyo Exchange, Gursky blurs the distinction between ecological habitat and ontological habitus. For me, it somehow pushes my thoughts to an imaginary world where technological advances have wiped out humankind. I believe, it is important for us to remind ourselves to use the new forms of media to make meaningful contributions towards development of humanity rather then concentrating on making our lives slaves of mechanization.

The next artist that made an impact on my thoughts was William Kentridge, who worked to transform the traditional genre of landscape painting into a medium of geopolitical critique. He also made films using his charcoal drawings that draw attention to the devastated area south of Johannesburg with mine dumps and slime dams, pylons and power cables. One of the most important connections that he is trying to draw through his artwork is that of ecology and civil rights. It makes me both perplexed and sad to see, that the aftereffects of our so-called technological and economical advances have been affecting our existence since time immemorial. Through his work named Mea Culpa, he tries to visually document the devastating impact of global military technologies on the human. Apter also mentions the poetic works of John Kinsella who uses geo-poetics to stage panic, fear and anxiety of the Aboriginals, who are being forced to displace to further the mining interests of the government.

While these artists have varied concerns in relation to different parts of the world, their works of art practice are contributing collectively and potentially to a similar cause. The concern that Emily Apter has been trying to highlight about the critical habitats is definitely a global one that affects each and every person of the world, irrespective of their region, origin or religion. Although artists cannot bring about a tactile change directly through their practice, but they have an immense power to reach out to the common people of the world, the power to unite them, the power to ignite the belief into the hearts of everyone to come together, resisting the trap of a myopic and self-enclosed regionalism.